Minnesota State News

Lord Fletcher’s Announces Temporary Closure For Winter Due To Pandemic

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 17:34:42 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Lord Fletcher’s announced that it will temporarily close for winter starting in mid-October.

On Friday, the popular restaurant along Lake Minnetonka called it a “difficult decision” made based on cold weather approaching and limited seating being allowed indoors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the restaurant industry locally and nationwide,” a statement read. “Temporary closing is not our preference, but it’s a measure we must take as we continue to push through the devastating economic effects of the pandemic.”

The restaurant will close beginning Oct. 12 and plans to reopen in the spring of 2021.

US bans WeChat, TikTok from app stores, threatens shutdowns

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 17:14:49 +0000

a move that could effectively wreck the operation of both Chinese services for U.S. users.

The daily coronavirus update: 8 more deaths; 1,085 additional cases in Minnesota

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 17:02:29 +0000

MinnPost provides updates on coronavirus in Minnesota Sunday through Friday. The information is published following a press phone call with members of the Walz administration or after the release of daily COVID-19 figures by the Minnesota Department of Health.

Here are the latest updates from September 18, 2020:

Eight more Minnesotans have died of COVID-19, the Minnesota Department of Health said Friday, for a total of 1,950.

Of the people whose deaths were announced Friday, two were in their 90s, two were in their 80s, three were in their 60s and one was in their 50s. Six of the eight deaths announced Friday were among residents of long-term care facilities. Of the 1,950 COVID-19 deaths reported in Minnesota, 1,414 have been among residents of long-term care.

The current death toll only includes Minnesotans with lab-confirmed positive COVID-19 tests.

MDH also said Friday there have been 87,807 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota. The number of confirmed cases is up 1,085 from Thursday’s count and is based on 29,431 new tests. That case count is the second highest daily increase in COVID-19 cases reported by the state so far in the pandemic, but also comes on the second-highest testing volume reported in a single day. The only day with more reported COVID-19 tests, August 19, included a large backlog of more than 20,000 old tests.

You can find the seven-day positive case average here.

Hospitalization remains stable in the state. Since the start of the outbreak, 7,091 Minnesotans have been hospitalized and 250 are currently in the hospital, 136 of which are in intensive care. Last Friday, 253 people were hospitalized, 139 of which were in the ICU. You can find more information about Minnesota’s current ICU usage and capacity here.

Of the 87,807 confirmed positive cases in Minnesota, 80,221 are believed to have recovered.

More information on cases can be found here.

One more thing

If you’re a regular reader of this newsletter, one way you can support it is by donating to MinnPost during our fall member drive. As a nonprofit, we believe it’s important to provide the news to everyone free of charge. But gathering and publishing the stories that matter to Minnesotans doesn’t come cheap. Anything helps, and it is truly appreciated.

Today on MinnPost

For the mayor of Bemidji, Trump visit is ‘monumental’ — but complicated.
Asking yourself how long it’s been since this all started? Us too.
As always, a look at the numbers on the MinnPost COVID-19 dashboard.

Around the web

Poorly protected postal workers are catching COVID-19 by the thousands. It’s one more threat to voting by mail, reports ProPublica.
Movie theater popcorn sales have tanked, prompting American popcorn farmers to find new markets, according to the Washington Post.
Housekeepers face a disaster generations in the making, reports the New York Times, as employers ghost the industry during the pandemic.

MDH’s coronavirus website: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/index.html

Hotline, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.: 651-201-3920

Minneapolis Downtown Council: Building Occupancy At 12%, Hotel Occupancy At 18%

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 16:57:34 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Compared to this time last year downtown Minneapolis looks very different, largely due to COVID-19.

Minneapolis Downtown Council released metrics on Friday detailing building occupancy, hotel occupancy, and pedestrian traffic, as some employees look to return to work downtown.

Currently, building occupancy is just at 12.2%, while hotel occupancy is at 18.1%. Pedestrian traffic on Nicollet Mall is 23.4% compared to the number of people walking down the mall at this time in 2018. Light Rail ridership is 25% of what it was at this time last year, and 43% of the restaurants that were operating last year are still open.

The Downtown Council says they will continue to update the dashboard to track how the area adapts as business return.

The dashboard is a collective effort by BOMA Greater Minneapolis, Meet Minneapolis, and the Minneapolis Federal Reserve.

St. Paul Police: Therapy Dog Missing For A Week Reunited With Owners

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 16:54:21 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A therapy dog was reunited with its family Friday after he was reportedly taken from a backyard in St. Paul last week.

The St. Paul Police Department says Ernest, a German Shepherd therapy dog in training, went missing last Thursday after someone reportedly walked up to the yard he was in on Arcade Street, opened the gate and led him away.

On Friday morning, a man spotted Ernest walking along Lawson Avenue. He called 911 and officers retrieved the dog.

Ernest is now safe and back with his owners. Police thanked the public for helping to find him.

Mpls. City Council Votes To Name Part Of Chicago Avenue As ‘George Perry Floyd Jr Place’

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 16:46:19 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The Minneapolis City Council has approved a commemorative street name addition in honor of George Floyd.

On Friday morning, the city council voted to call the stretch on Chicago Avenue, between 37th and 39th streets, “George Perry Floyd Jr Place”.

Signage will be placed at the intersection of 38th and Chicago.

It’s a commemorative renaming and the street will still officially be called Chicago Avenue, so no addresses will need to be changed.

Floyd died during an arrest by Minneapolis police in May, sparking protests on police brutality and systematic racism in the city and throughout the country. Four former officers face charges in his death.

Rochester pub shut down for 72 hours over 'repeated' COVID-19 violations

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 16:43:45 +0000

The bar will be allowed to reopen if it shows it's in compliance with the rules.

A bar in Rochester has been shut down for at least 72 hours by Olmsted County Public Health over "repeated" violations of COVID-19 safety measures.

Olmsted County announced Friday that the action had been taken against Dooley's Pub at 255 1st. Ave. SW., which has had its food and beverage license suspended for three days.

It comes after a city council member posted a video taken at the pub showing maskless bar staff pouring drinks into customers' mouths.

The county says it has provided consultation to pub management "before, during, and after a COVID-19 outbreak at the establishment in July 2020," but said that "recent recurring imminent health and safety hazards have been documented and observed that directly place Dooley’s employees and patrons at increased risk to COVID-19 exposure."

"Repeated violations of Governor Tim Walz’s Executive Order 20-74 have been documented including lack of physical distancing by staff and customers, lack of mask wearing by staff and customers, and failing to restrict the number of building occupants to 50% or less of the normal occupancy requirement," it added.

Dooley's must be closed for a minimum of 72 hours, and will remain closed until it can "demonstrate compliance and enforcement of its COVID-19 Preparedness Plan."

Per MedCity Beat, Dooley's had only reopened on Sept. 8 after shutting down in early July following an outbreak of COVID-19 that saw more than two dozen people, including 6 staff, test positive for the virus.

BMTN has reached out to Dooley's for comment.

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Hastings bar fined $7,000

It comes in the same week that action was taken against The Busted Nut Bar and Grill in Hastings, Minnesota, which was served with a $7,000 fine by the Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

In an interview with WCCO, the bar's owner says she believes the fine was because one of its employees wasn't wearing their face shield correctly.

OSHA has not furnished further details as the case is still open, but the Department of Health has said the state will take sterner action if there is either a history of non-compliance or there are issues "that directly impact worker safety."

A copy of the citation served to The Busted Nut was provided to BMTN, and among the issues identified is that the restaurant "did not furnish to each employee conditions of employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards which caused or were likely to cause death or serious injury to employee" though it does not clarify what those dangerous conditions are.

It also states that the bar "failed to enforce COVID-19-related precautions," which presumably references the employee not wearing a mask properly.

The bar was given till Sept. 27 to address the issues.

Weather update from Sven Sundgaard

Sept. 18 Weather with Sven: Return of wildfire smoke and its impact on birds (; 4:22)

Minneapolis’ effort to ‘dismantle’ the city’s police department has become a campaign issue — in the suburbs

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 16:39:23 +0000

Minneapolis doesn’t have city elections this year. But many of the suburban communities outside it do. And questions about “defunding” the police have spilled over into many of those elections.

Candidates for suburban city council seats generally get asked similar questions, often about infrastructure and development in their communities. Come this election cycle, however, the first since the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers and the city council’s subsequent discussion about “dismantling” the Minneapolis Police Department, suburban voters are adding another frequent inquiry: what candidates think about the funding for their city’s police.

In Maplewood, according to city council candidate Nikki Villavicencio, the idea of defunding the local department is “easily one of the most common issues people have brought up.”

Likewise for Kenny Nelson, a candidate for city council in Osseo. “Of the residents I’ve talked to so far, most have brought up the police department,” he said.

“I have encountered the question,” about defunding, said Edina City Council candidate Carolyn Jackson. “Interestingly, more so on the east side of Edina, which abuts Minneapolis, than the west side.”

Not every suburban candidate in every community is encountering the question, of course. In Oakdale, Council Member Kevin Zabel said he hasn’t encountered any voters asking about defunding the city’s police during his re-election campaign. And David Cummings, who is running for city council in Crystal, also said he has not been asked any defunding questions.

Crystal Mayor Jim Adams, who is also campaigning for re-election this fall, said the defund question comes up, though only from constituents who believe that Crystal’s department should not lose any money.

The “defund” idea can be slippery and confusing, and often conflates ideas ranging from reforming to even abolishing police departments. In Minneapolis, “dismantle” has been used to describe a process its supporters say would create a new public safety system — with fewer traditional peace officers but with other services. In other contexts, defund can mean shifting funds toward new training or trimming certain areas of a department’s budget.

In Maplewood, Villavicencio says the question has less to do with voters wanting to talk about specific dollar amounts for Maplewood police than it’s a way to get her overall perspective on public safety and budgeting.

Gordon Vizecky, running for city council in Richfield, said he’s had a similar experience. “The only folks who have come out and directly asked are via email,” he said. “On social media, it seems to be coded questions where voters want to understand what I mean when talking about safety.”

Though some candidates, like Villavicencio, are more open to discussing police budgets than others, none that MinnPost contacted expressly advocated defunding, or dismantling, any community’s police department.

“If anybody wants to have a conversation about defunding, I will not have that conversation,” said Kay “Kt” Jacobs, a city council candidate in Columbia Heights. “Reallocation of funds? I will talk all day long about that.”

Boyd Morosn, a city council candidate in Brooklyn Park, also stopped short of saying he wants to take money away from Brooklyn Park police. Instead, he says he ran to improve the relationship with the local force and all residents.

Woodbury City Council Member Andrea Date says that “some discussion around defunding the police is really talking about reordering priorities in a manner similar to the structure we currently have in place,” she said, referring to the city’s public safety department, which includes police, fire and other emergency services under one umbrella. In her campaign for re-election, Date said residents bring up police in the hopes of learning more about that model, which Date adds brings a more holistic sense of public safety.

Bob Lawrence, one of Date’s challengers, said he also encounters questions about the police, though the Woodbury residents he talks to are concerned with increasing diversity on the force and not in taking any money away from police.

The increasing racial and economic diversity in many Twin Cities suburbs has also affected the discussion. Kristy Janigo, running for city council in Maple Grove, said she hears both from communities that are chiefly concerned with maintaining funding for the police force and from groups who say they fear the police and want to push for reform.

Alfreda Daniels, running for city council in Brooklyn Center, noted that people of color now make up a majority of the suburb’s residents. And though she believes the city still needs police, one of the main reasons she’s running is to ease the mistrust certain people have with the department and police in general, since the notion of police is not synonymous with safety for some. For those people, she says, “What can we do to make the police mean something different?”

Gov. Tim Walz lays out benchmarks for ending COVID-19 emergency in Minnesota

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 16:35:35 +0000

Six months after his emergency order, the governor reflected on changes he would make and the strengths of Minnesota's COVID-19 response.

Rashod Bateman wants to return to Gophers and is enrolled for fall semester

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 16:30:59 +0000

The reigning Big Ten receiver of the year had opted out to get ready for the 2021 NFL draft but is now hoping to come back.

Here is Minnesota's COVID-19 update for Friday, September 18

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 16:15:48 +0000

The latest figures from MDH.

Eight more deaths in Friday's COVID-19 update from the Minnesota Department of Health brings the state's total death count since the start of the pandemic to 1,950, including 1,414 patients who were residents of long-term care facilities.

Six of the eight newly reported deaths in Friday's report were residents of long-term care facilities.

Friday's update includes 1,099 new positive tests for the coronavirus, 14 of which have been removed for an official count of 1,085 cases. Those positives are the result of 15,291 people tested, creating a 24-hour reporting period test positivity rate of 7.09%.

The positive test rate is lower from the perspective when the number of individuals producing positive tests (1,085) divided by total completed tests (29,431). In that case, the positivity rate is 3.68%.

The "tests completed" number is always higher than the "people tested" metric because some people get tested multiple times and those who test positive are only counted once, so it produces a less accurate positivity rate.

The test positivity rate over a 7-day average, based on total number of people tested, according to Johns Hopkins University, was 7.71% as of Thursday. Anything over 5% can indicate more aggressive community transmission, MDH officials say.

Coronavirus in Minnesota by the numbers:

Total tests: 1,791,680 (up from 1,763,735)
People tested: 1,278,837 (up from 1,263,546)
Positive cases: 87,807 (up from 86,722)
Deaths: 1,950 (up from 1,942)
Currently hospitalized: 250 (up from 242)
Patients in intensive care: 136 (up from 132)
Patients no longer requiring isolation: 80,221 (up from 79,878)

There have also been 52 deaths where COVID-19 is listed by doctors as the "probable" cause, though it's not included in the official COVID-19 death toll.

Weather update from Sven Sundgaard

Sept. 18 Weather with Sven: Return of wildfire smoke and its impact on birds (; 4:22)

Coronavirus In Minnesota: Nearly 1,100 New COVID-19 Cases Reported, 8 More Deaths

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 16:09:19 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Minnesota counted its highest single-day total for new COVID-19 cases on Friday, when 1,099 new infections were reported. Additionally, eight more fatalities were added to the state’s death toll.

The Minnesota Department of Health says the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state has now reached 87,807 since the start of the outbreak, with more than 80,000 people having recovered and no longer needing to self-isolate.

Meanwhile, the death toll in Minnesota is at 1,950. Of the most recent fatalities, six were residents in long-term care facilities, the demographic hardest hit by the pandemic.

Currently, 250 people are in Minnesota hospitals battling the novel coronavirus. Of those hospitalized, 136 are in intensive care.

In the last 24 hours, labs in the state processed nearly 30,000 COVID-19 tests. As of this week, more than 1.2 million people in Minnesota have been tested.

On Thursday, health officials announced that there will be free COVID-19 testing in communities across Minnesota over the next four weeks. The free testing comes as officials have noticed an uptick in community spread. The first cities to get free testing next week are Grand Rapids, Pine City and Waseca.

Also on Thursday, Gov. Tim Walz outlined what it would take for him to not extend the peacetime state of emergency, which has been in place since March. Required would be a drop in both community spread and positivity rates.

According to the state’s Dial Back Dashboard, Minnesota’s positivity rate is at 5% as of Sept. 9.

Northern Minnesota in the spotlight for dueling campaign stops

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 15:56:30 +0000

Joe Biden looks to reassert Democratic competitiveness beyond the Twin Cities and suburbs, while President Donald Trump is aiming to shore up his backing from 2016.

US bans WeChat, TikTok from app stores citing security risk

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 15:45:20 +0000

Lord Fletcher's announces it will close in October for the winter

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 15:45:02 +0000

It follows a similar step being taken by Restaurant Alma in Minneapolis.

Popular Lake Minnetonka venue Lord Fletcher's Old Lake Lodge has announced it will be shuttering for the winter season amid the ongoing downturn in the restaurant industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lakeside restaurant says that with winter approaching, and with a 50% capacity restriction still in place for dine-in service at Minnesota restaurants and bars, it's taking the decision to close for the winter as of Oct. 12.

It comes the same week that Restaurant Alma in Minneapolis made a similar decision to close for the winter in November.

Winters are challenging times for restaurants as it is in Minnesota, and with fewer people dining out due to the pandemic, patio dining becoming nigh-on impossible, and the ongoing capacity restrictions, establishments will find it harder than ever to survive.

"This decision was not made lightly," Lord Fletcher's wrote on its Facebook page. "Lord Fletcher's has been an integral part of the west metro and the Lake Minnetonka community for over 52 years."

"COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the restaurant industry locally and nationwide," it added. "Temporary closing is not our preference, but it's a measure we must take as we continue to push through the devastating economic effects of the pandemic.

"We look forward to making memories with you again in spring 2021."

Weather update from Sven Sundgaard

Sept. 18 Weather with Sven: Return of wildfire smoke and its impact on birds (; 4:22)

Minnesota Wild make it official: Mikko Koivu will not return

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 15:43:32 +0000

Koivu's 15-year run with the Wild is over.

Mikko Koivu was not expected to return to the Minnesota Wild next season. It was simply a matter of when the hockey team would make the end of his longtime tenure with the club official, and it happened Friday morning in a statement from General Manager Bill Guerin.

"Mikko Koivu was a true leader both on and off the ice during his 15-year career with the Wild. From being drafted sixth overall in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, making his NHL debut on Nov. 11, 2005, being named the team's first full-time captain on Oct. 20, 2009 and wearing the 'C' for the last 11 seasons to becoming the first player to play all 1,000 NHL games with Minnesota on Dec. 1, 2019, Mikko's legacy will live on forever in our organization.
"His hard work, dedication and team-first mentality will be extremely difficult to replace in our lineup. Off the ice, Mikko's impact in the State of Hockey was immeasurable as he went out of his way to make a positive impact on so many people in our community, including his charitable contributions to Children's Minnesota.We thank Mikko for everything he has done for our organization and wish him and his family the best in the future."

The end of the Koivu era is the latest move in a flurry of decisions made by Guerin.

Just in the last week and change Guerin has acquired ex-Gopher star Nick Bjugstad, signed defenseman Jonas Brodin to a contract extension, dealt 35-year-old Eric Staal to Buffalo for 30-year-old Marcus Johansson, and rumors continue to circulate about a possible Matt Dumba trade.

Sept. 18 Weather with Sven

Sept. 18 Weather with Sven: Return of wildfire smoke and its impact on birds (; 4:22)

Gov. Tim Walz lays out benchmarks for ending COVID-19 emergency in Minnesota

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 15:40:41 +0000

Six months after his emergency order, the governor reflected on changes he would make and the strengths of Minnesota's COVID-19 response.

Rashod Bateman wants to return to Gophers and is enrolled for fall semester

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 15:32:53 +0000

The reigning Big Ten receiver of the year had opted out to get ready for the 2021 NFL draft but is now hoping to come back.

Mikko Koivu won't be returning to Wild next season

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 15:31:19 +0000

The Wild is moving on from longtime captain and franchise scoring leader Mikko Koivu, announcing Friday he won't be re-signed after 15 seasons.

Sheriff: All 3 Victims Recovered In Washington Co. Plane Crash, Investigation Continues

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 15:30:28 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The Washington County Sheriff’s Office says all three victims have now been recovered in a small-engine plane crash in a deep water-filled quarry.

The third and final registered occupant of the plane crash was recovered Thursday evening. The two other occupants were located inside the aircraft Tuesday afternoon.

Three people were aboard when it took off from a South St. Paul airport Sunday afternoon. The plane was due to land at Fleming Field, a city-owned airport that handles mainly single-engine aircraft, but communication with the pilot was lost.

Authorities say the wreckage is located over 70 feet down in a water-filled quarry on Grey Cloud Island, south of Mooers Lake and north of the Mississippi River. In general, quarries can have steep drop-offs, debris, industrial waste, and other complicating factors.

Pieces of the Cessna Skyhawk were also found near the water’s edge.

The Federal Aviation Administration continues to investigate the crash.

'Huge' request for mail-in ballots in Minneapolis

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 15:24:21 +0000

About 114,000 of the city's 260,000 registered voters requested mail-in ballots, a record number.

Trump, Biden To Make Campaign Stops In Minnesota As Early Voting Begins

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 15:15:47 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS (AP/WCCO) — The battleground state of Minnesota began voting in the presidential election on Friday as polling stations opened in every county and local elections officials began mailing out absentee ballots.

Dozens of voters lined up early in the morning outside the early voting center in Minneapolis, where officials said 44 people had voted in the first half hour after the polls opened. Officials put coronavirus protections in place, including plexiglass dividers and plenty of hand sanitizer. Poll workers kept voting booths wiped down with disinfectant.

Minnesotans are also expected to vote by mail in record numbers. Secretary of State Steve Simon said nearly 99,000 residents have already requested absentee ballots. He said he expects around 1.2 million absentee ballots will be cast by election day with a total turnout of around 3 million to 3.1 million.

Under special pandemic rules, absentee ballots can be postmarked as late as election day. Officials will then have seven calendar says to count them as they trickle in, which means Minnesota won’t have complete results until Nov. 10.

The state got its early head start on voting on the same that that President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden scheduled dueling campaign stops in northern Minnesota. Trump is slated to speak to supports in Bemidji while Biden is scheduled to appear in Duluth. However, as of Friday morning, there’s still no word as to when Biden is expected to land in northern Minnesota.

With both @realdonaldtrump and @joebiden visiting Mn today Trump campaign drops this new ad which is running statewide – Trump is at Bemidji airport at 6pm, still no information on exactly where or when Biden will be in Duluth area https://t.co/TMTXT9lFjx via @YouTube

— esme murphy (@esmemurphy) September 18, 2020

Minnesota Becomes Unlikely Battleground State

Minnesota has backed Democratic presidential candidates for nearly half a century and rarely receives much attention during the final stages of the race, when campaigns typically focus their resources on more traditional swing states like Florida or Pennsylvania.

But Minnesota will feel like a genuine battleground on Friday when President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, campaign here to mark the beginning of early voting.

They’re expected to avoid the urban core of Minneapolis to focus on rural and working-class voters, some of whom shifted to Republicans for the first time in 2016. Trump will be in Bemidji, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Minneapolis, while Biden will swing through Duluth, on the banks of Lake Superior and close to the Wisconsin border.

Since narrowly losing Minnesota in 2016, Trump has focused relentlessly on the state in hopes that a victory this year could offset losses in other states. He has visited regularly and kept a close eye on issues of particular importance to rural corners of the state, reversing an Obama administration policy prohibiting the development of copper-nickel mining and bailing out soybean, corn and other farmers who have been hurt by trade clashes with China.

More recently, he’s embraced a “law and order” message aimed at white suburban and rural voters who may be concerned by protests that have sometimes become violent. That’s especially true in Minnesota, where the May killing of George Floyd by a police officer sparked a national reckoning on systemic racism.

But for all the work Trump has put into the state, it may elude him again in November.

A series of polls over the past week show Biden has built a consistent lead over Trump. And in the 2018 midterms, Democratic turnout surged in suburbs, small cities and even on the Iron Range, across the blue-collar mining towns that were once labor strongholds but had been trending Republican.

David McIntosh, president of the conservative Club for Growth, which has produced anti-Biden ads, said Minnesota may help the Trump campaign build momentum.

“They’re looking beyond the poll numbers and seeing the potential there,” said McIntosh, a former congressman from Indiana. “It’s always smart strategy to go on offense somewhere.”

In 2018, Democrats flipped two suburban congressional districts, took back control of the state House by winning suburban Trump-voting areas and came within one seat of winning control of the state Senate. Democrats won every statewide race that year, even as they lost a rural congressional district.

Trump’s path to Minnesota success likely depends on finding more votes in rural, conservative areas –- running up the score beyond his 2016 tally. It’s a strategy he’s trying to pull off elsewhere and it depends on a robust field operation with the money and time to track down infrequent or first-time voters. That could be a tall order since Minnesota already has one of the nation’s highest voter turnout rates.

“I don’t think they’re there,” said Joe Radinovich, a Democrat who lost a bid for a northern Minnesota congressional district in 2018. Radinovich noted the major organizational challenge and expense in tracking new voters, making sure they’re registered and getting them to vote – especially during a pandemic. “We have relatively high turnout already. Most people vote. I just don’t think it’s there. I think those people showed up in 2016,” he said.

In 2016, Trump won that district, which includes the Democratic city of Duluth, by 15 percentage points. But in the midterms two years later, Radinovich lost by just under 6 percentage points.

Still, Trump has spent more than a year building a sizable Minnesota ground game. Republicans are out knocking on doors and interacting personally with voters in ways that Democrats mostly have not, preferring online operations because of the coronavirus.

The president’s reelection campaign announced this week a $10 million ad buy in a series of states, including Minnesota. It has spent nearly $17 million on advertising in the state since last October, compared with almost $6.3 million for Biden over the same period, according to a review of Kantar/CMAG data by The Associated Press.

Democrats warn that Biden still may have his work cut out for him. Duluth Mayor Emily Larson said the Trump campaign has far outpaced Biden in local yard signs — which indicates enthusiasm but may not ultimately affect the outcome.

“One of the things the Trump campaign has been very good about is visibility in Duluth, but also in areas around Duluth,” Larson said.

Ken Martin, chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, said that while Biden isn’t likely to carry the congressional district that includes Duluth, he might be able to pick up enough support there to deny Trump the votes he needs to win statewide.

“If your opponent is on the ropes or on the ground, you don’t get up,” Martin said.

Northern Minnesota in the spotlight for dueling campaign stops

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 15:11:03 +0000

Joe Biden looks to reassert Democratic competitiveness beyond the Twin Cities and suburbs, while President Donald Trump is aiming to shore up his backing from 2016.

Report: After opting out, Rashod Bateman wants to play for Gophers

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 15:03:17 +0000

The All-Big Ten receiver opted out due to health concerns.

Rashod Bateman is reportedly reconsidering his decision to opt out of the college football season, with Yahoo Sports' Pete Thamel reporting that the All-Big Ten wide receiver wants to play for the Gophers.

"He's back on campus and enrolled as a full-time student," Thamel wrote in a tweet. "He’s signed with agent and finds himself in the same scenario as other high-profile players around the country."

Bateman opted out of the 2020 season on August 4. Seven days later the Big Ten postponed all fall sports, only to reverse that decision earlier this week. The conference football season will now begin the weekend of Oct. 23-24, with each Big Ten team playing an eight-game conference-only schedule.

Bateman's announced the following on Aug. 4:

“Unfortunately, in light of the uncertainty around health and safety in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have to set my wishes aside for the wellness of my family, community and beyond,” Bateman said. “Because of this, I have decided to opt out of the 2020 college football season and I will be taking the next steps in my journey by declaring for the 2021 NFL draft.”

Bateman, at 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, burst onto the scene as a sophomore last season. He racked up 60 receptions for 1,219 yards and 11 touchdowns.

The Gophers could be headed for another big season, especially if Bateman is in the mix.

Body found in lake after 911 caller said they couldn't find their father

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 15:01:55 +0000

The suspected drowning happened in Rice County Thursday morning.

Police say a body has been recovered from a lake in Wells Township, Rice County, after a 911 call Thursday morning.

The caller told dispatchers that they were looking for their father at his home in the 3000 block of Cannon Lake Trail. When Rice County deputies arrived, they noticed a pair of boots floating in Cannon Lake away from the shore.

The Rice County Dive Team was sent to the lake, but as they waited for divers to arrive, deputies commandeered a boat and a short time later found a man in the lake.

He was removed from the water and pronounced dead at the scene.

Preliminary investigation suggests no trauma or foul play is suspected. The victim's identity has not been released at this stage.

'Huge' request for mail-in ballots in Minneapolis

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:59:38 +0000

About 114,000 of the city's 260,000 registered voters requested mail-in ballots, a record number.

Northern Minnesota in the spotlight for dueling campaign stops

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:57:12 +0000

Joe Biden looks to reassert Democratic competitiveness beyond the Twin Cities and suburbs, while President Donald Trump is aiming to shore up his backing from 2016.

Journalism in crisis

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:55:30 +0000

“It’s getting hard to keep track of the bad news about the news right now.”

MinnPost photo by Bill Kelley

Susan Albright

That’s how the Poynter Institute began its latest updating of press cutbacks, layoffs, furloughs and closings. It noted that both the Duluth News Tribune and the Forum of Fargo/Moorhead had cut to two print days a week and now use the mail instead of carriers — and that the Star Tribune “has had four days of furloughs in both quarter two and quarter three” for some employees. Those items were just a tiny part of an exhaustive nationwide list.

For me, the pileup of bad news about the news is heartbreaking. During my career I have done stints at four metropolitan daily newspapers. Two of them have since died; the others are carrying on, but with much smaller newsrooms these days.

Smaller staffs and tighter budgets don’t preclude terrific reporting. But with stronger support comes the ability to do more ambitious, in-depth coverage. And that is important during election time, when people need to know who’s running, what they’re saying — and what they’ve actually done. It’s especially important when misinformation and disinformation can spread through social media like wildfire.

At MinnPost we don’t have to spend money on either printing presses or carriers, so we get a lot of bang for the buck. And we’re lucky to have highly competent and energetic reporters. But we need your support to help us live up to our ambitious goals for this election season — and beyond.

During our fall member drive, we’re hoping to inspire 200 new/renewing members to donate at any level by Sept. 24. Will you become one of them?

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Rashod Bateman wants to return to Gophers and is enrolled for fall semester

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:54:16 +0000

The reigning Big Ten receiver of the year had opted out to get ready for the 2021 NFL draft but is now hoping to come back.

US bans WeChat, TikTok from app stores citing security risk

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:50:12 +0000

D.C. Memo: Betting the farm

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:49:27 +0000

MinnPost photo by Walker Orenstein

Rep. Collin Peterson enjoys broad support from the agricultural industry in Minnesota and nationwide.

Welcome to this week’s edition of the D.C. Memo. This week from Washington, the agriculture industry wants to keep Collin Peterson right where he is; a House resolution on discrimination; and what Amy Klobuchar is up to.

But first, we’re less than 50 days out from the election and MinnPost has a goal of hearing from 200 new or renewing members. If you like what you’re reading, support our work and become a member.

Alright, let’s get on with this.

You reap what you sow

Rep. Collin Peterson, a Democrat in a district Trump won by 30+ points, has a well-funded challenger in 2020: former Lt. Gov. Michelle Fischbach.

But the race isn’t just cut on party lines: The agriculture sector, which has worked with Peterson for decades, is set to spend millions keeping him in office. Peterson’s long tenure on the agriculture committee and experience working on the Farm Bill is not lost on farmers and producers. Neither is the fact that if he were to lose, the chairmanship of the committee would go to a representative of another ag-heavy state like Texas.

What do Republicans think? At least one state leg candidate agrees with the consensus from Minnesota’s ag sector.

“If you would look at Michelle Fischbach and Collin Peterson, hands down Collin Peterson is more qualified to write a Farm Bill. And I would assume, and nothing against Michelle Fischbach, I would hope she would look at Collin Peterson and say ‘He can write a better Farm Bill than I can,’” Mark Larson, an endorsed Republican running in Senate District 4 against incumbent Sen. Kent Eken of Twin Valley, told MinnPost’s Walker Orenstein.

But he demurred: “Michelle Fischbach … I guarantee you has got her places where she’s going to be better than Collin Peterson.”

House votes on anti-Asian discrimination resolution

The U.S. House voted Thursday to condemn anti-Asian discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the rhetoric President Donald Trump has adopted in order to charectarize the pandemic.

The resolution, “Condemning all forms of anti-Asian sentiment as related to COVID-19,” passed 243-164, with fourteen Republicans voting along with Democrats. More specifically, the resolution condemns the use of anti-Asian terminology and rhetoric related to COVID-19 like the “‘Chinese Virus,’ ‘Wuhan Virus,’ and ‘Kung-flu.’” and notes “a dramatic increase in reports of hate crimes and incidents against those of Asian descent.”

Minnesotans in the House voted along party lines, with all Democrats voting for the resolution and all Republicans against.

By the numbers

57%: An ABC News/Washington Post poll of 615 likely voters puts Joe Biden ahead of President Donald Trump 57% to 41% (with a margin of error of +/- 4%).
81: According to MediaMatters, the number of current and former candidates for Congress who have indicated support for or associated with Qanon, a conspiracy theory that originated on far-right message boards, that has repeatedly involved misplaced predictions and violence, as well as kidnappings.
909: The number of positive COVID-19 tests in Minnesota on 9/16, more than any day in the month of May. MinnPost tracks the numbers here.

What’s Amy Klobuchar up to?

After a very public run for president, what has Sen. Amy Klobuchar been up to? Several DFL Party leaders see her as a key asset in motivating voters to turnout and vote for Democratic candidates this election year.

Read more at MinnPost.

“There is no doubt that she is the number one asset for any Democrat running in Minnesota,” said Ken Martin, chairman of the state’s DFL Party. “She is unique in many ways, she overperforms Democratic performance in almost every precinct in the state and every county, whether it’s in Greater Minnesota, suburbs.”

Klobuchar has been showing up, helping with candidate events around the state. But her perceived (and actual) focus on white voters, as well as seemingly haphazard focus on Minnesotans of color, is the other side of the coin. Asma Nizami, a former field organizer for Sen. Al Franken in the Twin Cities, said Klobuchar has long been out of touch with communities of color, something highlighted by her presidential campaign that focused on winning rural white voters back from Trump. Nizami said it’s actually Sen. Tina Smith who is building a coalition that includes people of color in the Twin Cities, rather than Klobuchar. “I think that Amy doesn’t have support in communities of color,” said Nizami.

The mail scandal continues

Who knew Minnesota’s big scandal of 2020 would be about franked mail?

Daniel Newhauser, with the Minnesota Reformer, reports that the first known ethics complaint has been filed against Rep. Jim Hagedorn, all but assuring he will get an ethics investigation in the House for the way his office spent money on materials for constituent mail.

In other news

Sheila Regan for Sahan Journal: ICE deportation looms for Somalis who may have COVID-19
Greta Kaul for MinnPost: What COVID-19 might mean for the college-student vote in Minnesota
Peter Callaghan for MinnPost: Gov. Tim Walz on COVID-19, George Floyd, and whether there’ll ever be ‘One Minnesota’

Quote of the week

“Last night I heard about it for the first time, and it’s a small number of cases,” President Donald Trump said about the unknown number of COVID cases recently reported among the White House staff.

What I’m reading

Tina Vasquez for Prism: Georgia doctor who forcibly sterilized detained women has been identified

Women detained at the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Georgia have allegedly been sterilized without their consent. Tina Vasquez has the story on the doctor that facilitated it.

Jesse Barron for NYT Mag: What Happened Inside Ed Buck’s Apartment?

For the last two years, every few months I’ve wondered about this question. Several Black men died after visiting the house of Ed Buck, a political activist from West Hollywood and donor to a few Democratic politicians. Jesse Barron’s long story on what exactly happened in Buck’s apartment is a hard-to-read account of how addiction, power, and race can come together in one horrifying mixture.

That’s all for this week. Thanks for sticking around. Until next week, feel free to send tips, suggestions, and sound advice to: gschneider@minnpost.com. Follow at @gabemschneider. And don’t forget to become a MinnPost member.

2 victims identified, 3rd body recovered in Washington County plane crash

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:48:53 +0000

The search continues for a third victim.

Views of the U.S. plunge in Pew Research survey

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:47:24 +0000

REUTERS/Tom Brenner

President Donald Trump speaking at Mankato Regional Airport in Mankato last month.

The Pew Research Center has been surveying views of the United States in 13 key foreign countries, mostly in Europe, plus Japan, Canada and South Korea, all of them generally American allies. They’ve taken the poll biennially over the past 20 years.

In most of the countries, favorable views of our dear old nation have drifted downward from 2000, but the previous ups and downs were nothing compared to the steep drop measured in 2020, hitting an all-time low in almost every nation.

Pew seems to attribute the bad ratings to two factors, which, one might say, were two sides of the same factor: Donald Trump, and the performance of the United States in handling the COVID pandemic, which has been roughly the worst of any nation, which, of course, occurred under the leadership of the aforementioned individual.

I’ll give you a link to the full Pew write-up below. And I should mention that there were plenty of ups and downs in these ratings over the 20 years of biennial surveys. But you can’t look at the trends without noting the new lows occurring recently. To illustrate that, here are six important U.S. allies emphasized in the Pew report, and the “favorable” rating of the United States in each of them in 2000, and then in 2020.

Key to the list below: Country, followed by the 2000 “favorable” rating of the U.S., followed by the 2020 rating:

United Kingdom: 83/41

France: 62/31

Germany: 78/26.

Japan: 77/41

Canada: 72/35

Australia: 59/33.

COVID is obviously a big factor in the most recent drop. But, if you click through to the full Pew write-up, you’ll see that every one of the major countries had a dramatic change, before COVID, in their response to a separate question: “Do you have confidence in the U.S. president to do the right thing regarding world affairs?”

In the U.K., Spain, France and Germany, those ratings were in the 70s, 80s or up to 90 percent during the presidency of Barack Obama, then fell to less than 20 immediately upon the arrival of the current incumbent president. The highest such figure for Trump was a 19 percent confidence rating in Britain. The lowest was a 10 in Germany. And in all of those key allies, the rating of Trump fell from 2019 to 2020.

Across 13 European countries, respondents were asked whether they had “confidence” or “no confidence” in a series of world leaders. Trump got an overall rating, across all the 13 countries, of 16 percent “confidence,” 83 percent “no confidence.”

This is perhaps even worse than it sounds at first, because that poll question included President Vladimir Putin of Russia, who bested Trump with an overall rating of 23 percent confidence/73 percent no confidence, and President Xi Jinping, who scored 19/78.

The most “trusted” world leader, on that question, was Angela Merkel of Germany, who scored 76 percent confidence, 19 percent no confidence.

Pew asked a separate specific question about how various countries or organizations had done in dealing with COVID.

In every European country, a majority said that their own nation deserved a positive rating for that. They also had favorable views of the COVID-fighting efforts of the European Union in general, and of the World Health Organization. Two countries got negative ratings:

China: 37 percent positive/ 60 percent negative.

And the U.S., worst of all: 15 percent positive/84 percent negative.

There were a few other questions asked across these nations, none of which came out well for the United States or Trump. The full piece, headlined: “U.S. Image Plummets Internationally as Most Say Country Has Handled Coronavirus Badly; Ratings for Trump remain poor,” is viewable here.

What was the most destructive tornado in Minnesota history?

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:41:23 +0000

The state has seen dozens of terrifying twisters over the years.

2 victims identified, 3rd body recovered in Washington County plane crash

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:35:29 +0000

The search continues for a third victim.

Dozens of stolen road signs recovered in west-central MN; kids, young adults facing charges

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:29:37 +0000

Kids and young adults are facing charges.

Several kids and young adults are facing theft and criminal damage to property charges in connection to dozens of street signs that were stolen over a number of weeks in west-central Minnesota.

The Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office announced Friday that investigators were provided tips that led to the search of several residences on Wednesday, resulting in the recovery of "over 35 public works street signs and a construction barrel."

"These signs are believed to have been taken over a several week period in northeastern Kandiyohi County," the sheriff's office said.

"The investigation is ongoing but several juveniles and young adults will face theft and criminal damage to property charges."

Earlier this week the sheriff's office reported the stolen signs to the public, saying the absence of stop signs, yield signs and bridge ahead signs were causing dangers at intersections and curves on county roadways.

More public works signs are still missing, so anyone with information that could help investigators recover them is asked to call the sheriff's office at 320-214-6700, and use extension 6718.

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Gov. Walz Outlines What It’ll Take To End The Peacetime State Of Emergency

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:29:16 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — For the first time since declaring a state of emergency in March over the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Tim Walz outlined this week what he believes is needed to end the peacetime emergency.

The governor is looking for a decline in positivity rates and community spread, Teddy Tschann, a spokesperson for the governor’s office said. He added: “All 50 states are in an emergency. Our goal is to get COVID under control, that’s how the emergency ends.”

The Star Tribune first reported on what the governor is looking for to end the peacetime emergency in an interview published Thursday.

Currently, the state’s COVID-19 positivity rate is at 5% as of Sept. 8, according to the state’s Dial Back Dashboard. As for community spread, health officials expressed concern this week about increased community spread throughout Minnesota. In response, there will be free testing centers opened in communities across the state over the next four weeks.

Since initially declaring a state of emergency in March, when the outbreak reached Minnesota, Walz has called four special sessions to extend the state of emergency. Under Minnesota law, the governor is required to call a special session every 30 days to get approval for an emergency extension from lawmakers when the legislature is not in session.

During the last three special sessions, the Republican-controlled Senate has called for the end of the state of emergency, but the DFL-controlled House has voted to continue to give Walz emergency powers.

Northern Minnesota in the spotlight for dueling campaign stops

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:26:53 +0000

Joe Biden looks to reassert Democratic competitiveness beyond the Twin Cities and suburbs, while President Donald Trump is aiming to shore up his backing from 2016.

More migrant women say they didn't OK surgery

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:20:14 +0000

Sitting across from her lawyer at an immigration detention center in rural Georgia, Mileidy Cardentey Fernandez unbuttoned her jail jumpsuit to show the scars on her abdomen. There were three small, circular marks.

Gov. Tim Walz lays out benchmarks for ending COVID-19 emergency in Minnesota

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:16:15 +0000

Six months after his emergency order, the governor reflected on changes he would make and the strengths of Minnesota's COVID-19 response.

Government to block downloads of TikTok and WeChat from Sunday

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:15:07 +0000

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross made the announcement Friday, citing national security concerns.

The Trump Administration has announced that it is banning downloads of the social media apps TikTok and WeChat starting Sunday.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross made the announcement Friday, following on from an Executive Order signed by President Trump on Aug. 6 that gave Chinese-owned TikTok 45 business days to sell its U.S. business to an American company.

The order will prohibit app stores from making the Chinese-owned apps from being downloaded as of Sunday. Furthermore, it will also prohibit internet hosting services from "enabling the functioning or optimization" of the app as of Sunday, with the same ban going into effect for TikTok from Nov. 12.

Video app TikTok has become the fastest downloaded app in the world over the course of 2020, topping 2 billion downloads globally in April.

Cnet reports that TikTok was targeted by the president over the summer amid concerns its China-based parent company, ByteDance, could be forced to give data about its U.S. users to the Chinese government, which ByteDance has said it would not do.

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In his announcement Friday, Ross claims that both WeChat and TikTok are "active participants in China’s civil-military fusion and is subject to mandatory cooperation with the intelligence services of the CCP."

CNBC suggests that the move taken by Ross Friday could be part of an effort to rush TikTok's owners into selling its U.S. business before the Trump Administration's deadline.

Companies including Oracle and Microsoft have been linked with buying the app.

deVon Russell Gray: ‘My work is a mirror’

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:11:54 +0000

COVID-19 has turned countless lives upside-down. According to Americans for the Arts, artists and creative workers are among the most severely affected segment of the nation’s workforce. Ninety-five percent report loss of income. Sixty-three percent have become fully unemployed.

deVon Russell Gray isn’t among them. In fact, he finds himself in a surprisingly good place, like the eye of a storm. Gray, aka dVRG, is a classically trained composer, multi-instrumentalist and new-music performer. He doesn’t play a lot of gigs, nor does he want to.

A longtime member of St. Paul’s famed rap/hip-hop band Heiruspecs, Gray recently joined them for the 2020 virtual version of Central Honors Philando, an annual community event that celebrates Philando Castile, killed by police in 2016, and supports a scholarship in his name. At this moment, in Gray’s words, “I am happy to have no other live performances of any configuration or type on the agenda.” He’s free to focus on composing, splitting his time between an apartment and what he calls his “creation laboratory,” both in St. Paul.

A graduate of Perpich Center for Arts Education, Gray went from there to the New England Conservatory. He returned to the cities in 2003 to tour full time with Heiruspecs. He performed with Brother Ali in 2013 at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, performed and recorded with Chastity Brown and played around town with his friends.

In 2015, Gray received a Cedar Commission from the Cedar Cultural Center and later premiered his string quartet, “Fractious Child,” informed by classical music and the writings of James Baldwin. In 2017, he was chosen as a McKnight Composer Fellow.

In 2019, he was awarded one of the inaugural Jerome Hill Artist Fellowships, a two-year grant for early-career artists. Soon after, he was named composer-in-residence for the Schubert Club for a two-year term beginning Sept. 1, 2019. COVID has messed with that. Gray was able to premiere a new work, “Make the revolution irresistible,” with the acclaimed string ensemble Accordo in February 2020, but a Courtroom Concert originally planned for April was canceled.

As a perk of his residency, the Schubert Club has loaned him a 1920 Steinway grand piano from its museum that once belonged to Swiss composer Ernest Bloch. “It lived in the museum for years,” Gray said. “I had played it. I thought, I wonder if they could loan me an instrument? I sent a note asking and they said yes, without hesitation.”

As always, this conversation has been edited and condensed.

MinnPost: What did your 2020 look like before the pandemic moved in?

deVon Russell Gray: January 1 came, and I knew what the entirety of the year was going to look like. And I was really excited, because it was the first year in my career and life where all or many of the pieces had fallen into place.

I was going to be financially secure. I was going to be secure in my housing situation. I had tremendous amounts of support in my work and in my life. And I had travels planned, had invitations that were beautiful, had commissions. It was going to be a full year of amazing things.

Screen shot

A longtime member of St. Paul’s famed rap/hip-hop band Heiruspecs, deVon Russell Gray, left, recently joined them for the 2020 virtual version of Central Honors Philando.

I started the year as music director for the production at the Children’s Theatre, “Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds.” That was the dose of vitamin D that I needed in January and February in Minnesota. That show ended on March 1. I think I had one gig after that, playing duo with [drummer] Davu [Seru] at Khyber Pass on March 12. And then we were in it.

The end, right before the end, was so good for me. After that, some things were postponed, some things were moved, some things were shifted. But I was also very fortunate that none of my gigs went away permanently. Any money that was on the table was still offered to me. All the gigs I had pre-pandemic are still in process. I think I’m the only person I know in that situation.

[NOTE: Here’s a video of Gray and Seru playing an improvisation together.]

MP: What, if anything, changed for you?

dVRG: In March and April, I tried to be as vigilant as possible. That meant locking down. I wasn’t even coming into my studio, even though it’s a secure space and I could reasonably be the only person using it. My friends who are more cautious than me and had been in other parts of the world during pandemics taught me to take [COVID] seriously. So I did. I stayed home.

But I’m a composer, and I can do a lot of the work wherever I am. I just know that working from home is problematic. Home can be a little too comfy sometimes. I focused on my friends and family and knew that the work was still going to be there.

I saw lots of debate with friends about “Are you creating during the pandemic? Or are you just not doing shit, because that’s also a valid choice?”

MP: What choice did you make?

dVRG: A little column A, a little column B. Sometimes I work, sometimes I don’t. But that was true pre-pandemic. Self-preservation is a big part of my work ethic. I don’t want to ever work too hard. I’ve heard anecdotes about some friends who burn the candle at both ends and make themselves sick. I don’t want to be one of those.

MP: There’s an interview with you from October 2019 where you talk about using your Schubert Club residency to write your first opera. You describe it as “monodramas … one actor or vocalist, small chamber ensemble, just one scene … separate little works that could work independently or be strung together for an evening-length something.” That was pre-pandemic, but it sounds like the perfect pandemic opera.

dVRG: It is! My opera was always going to be sort of stream-friendly, or digest-at-your-own-rate-in-your-own-space-friendly. I haven’t had to shift my thinking much, other than that I’m probably not going to be in the same space with any of my friends at any given point. So that’s sad. But everybody has a space or somewhere in their town where they can record, and we’ll just collaborate the best way we can.

MP: Given COVID, will your Schubert Club residency be extended?

dVRG: We talk about that pretty regularly. I’m still participating in artistic committee activities for the Schubert Club’s board of directors. And I’ve been planning an all-African Diaspora Black composer recital that’s still in the works. I’ve been planning that with Garrett McQueen and my friend Jacob Dodd, who’s the music director at Pilgrim Baptist Church. That’s been moved from a live concert to a streamed event, probably in the spring.

MP: Garrett McQueen has more free time now that he’s been fired by MPR.

dVRG: Sadly, he does.

[NOTE: You can hear McQueen’s statement and that of his co-host, Scott Blankenship, on Opus 66 of their podcast “Trilloquy,” which aired Thursday, Sept. 17.]

MP: Are you finding this a good time or a bad time to work?

dVRG: We knew back in 2016 that this was going to be a good time to make art, because there was going to be horrible shit happening. I’m still on that same train. … Wartime artmaking.

MP: Where do you go for inspiration and motivation?

dVRG: To the beautiful humans I come across. … I’ve had some beautiful people in my life who have exposed me to things I may have found on my own at some point, but they’ve accelerated my growth. I’m in a very present, activated moment. My work is always a mirror. It’s always a time capsule of whatever’s going on in my life and around me and my friends’ and family’s lives right now. Everything seems absolutely macro and micro at the same time.

MP: Where were you when you learned about George Floyd’s death, and how did that affect you?

dVRG: I was at home alone, in isolation. And I was in shock, and the shock lasted for at least two weeks. The fires had raged and subsided before I really understood what had happened, and had a moment to own it and to break down about it and to get mad about it in the right way.

MP: What, for you, is the right way?

dVRG: To understand that the activism and energy of the youth is beautiful and justified, but also to understand the truth of the systems and how our society works and how we want it to work, recognizing what it’s always meant to be Black in America. It’s a lot.

MP: Do you feel as if things have gotten to a point this time where they can’t go back? How much of that is the pandemic?

dVRG: It’s because of the pandemic. The perfect storm. Because it could have been Tamir Rice, it could have been Sandra Bland, it could have been fill in the blank. The anger is always there in Black America, but we don’t always have the energy built up at any given moment. We’re always just so tired, and tired of being tired.

If these were normal times, we would have gotten back to normal business faster. I’m hopeful and excited to see what kind of organizations pop up now, led by folks half my age. And I’m hoping to see some institutions that have been around forever die and not come back.

MP: As a Black man raised in the Twin Cities, where the orchestras have traditionally been white, how did you get into classical music?

dVRG: It was the first time I walked into Orchestra Hall. It was a closed rehearsal for Sommerfest. I was 14, so I didn’t know who any of these people were. I didn’t know what the music was.

I was there on a field trip with Minnesota Youth Symphony’s Summer Jazz Orchestra. I played saxophone at the time, and flute a little bit, but nothing orchestral. So I walked into the hall and they were playing this really beautiful music that just instantly captivated me. Later on, I learned it was the opening movement of Beethoven’s Seventh. And on the podium was a young upstart, Eiji Oue. That might have been his first or second appearance here.

As soon as I heard that, I shifted my life. After that one experience, I became a classical musician. That’s why I picked up the bassoon. That’s why I ended up at New England Conservatory.

I loved Classical MPR and listened to it daily. That’s because students need to hear the repertoire. You need to be immersed in it. And I used to go to Minnesota Orchestra concerts all the time. I’d get comp tickets from one of the players or someone in the administration would allow me to use their discount. I was studying bassoon with Carole Mason Smith of the SPCO and went to SPCO concerts often. Loved it. Ate it up. I felt that was going to be my path. I was going to be a conductor. I wanted to make that music myself.

But that was like a third of the repertoire I should have been hearing, because I wasn’t hearing things by women and I wasn’t hearing stuff by Black composers. I had to figure that out when I got to NEC. And I’m still learning things today that I missed and wish someone had pointed out earlier in my life. But we find things we need when we need them.

Also, I loved the Minnesota Orchestra back then because Bill Eddins was on staff. I got to see a Black guy doing that gig. And that was meaningful.

[NOTE: Eddins was the orchestra’s associate conductor from 1992-97.]

Courtesy of the artist

deVon Russell Gray: "We knew back in 2016 that this was going to be a good time to make art, because there was going to be horrible shit happening. I’m still on that same train. … Wartime artmaking."

MP: Do you think the events of this year will shape the music you compose in the future?

dVRG: I was already on that trajectory. My music is has always been about my experiences of being Black, human, and American in the now, making this music in these spaces. I feel like I was already heading in this direction. I was already thinking these things. And then that cop did that heinous thing. And I guess my resolve is just strengthened. I was already there.

One of the artists I was hipped to this year is Dread Scott. And again, it’s someone I would have come across at some point, but because of interactions in my life I was pushed toward him earlier. Some of his work has been more influential on me this year than music, and music is usually the thing that moves me the most.

MP: What keeps you up at night?

dVRG: Money woes. I’m secure at the moment because I made residency mid-fellowship and had good paying gigs at the top of things. But because the structure has changed so much, I feel like the playing field has been leveled for a lot of us, even folks who are levels beyond me or levels below me.

We don’t know how we’re going to make our money. Where’s money gonna come from? How are things going to restructure? What makes sense? Should we be looking forward to some future where we’re back to pre-COVID concert attending levels? When is that ever gonna feel comfortable again?

MP: Is there a bright spot anywhere in this for you?

dVRG: I think people have had to take stock of what really matters to them. Now more than ever, people understand how important the art in their life is. So I hope they are understanding how important the artists in their life are. I’m seeing good and wonderful kindness from arts organizations.

MP: What’s the first thing you’ll do when you can do whatever you want?

dVRG: I miss Paris. And now I’m doubly drawn to Africa. I played the Cape Town Jazz Festival with Brother Ali and that was gorgeous. I have yet to travel there to hear the good music or be with my people, whoever my people are.

***

We asked Gray what he’s been listening to lately. He responded with “what’s been on my playlist of late and sticking. Meaning many listens.”

Funkadelic: “Maggot Brain” (1971)
Brandy: “b7” (2020)
Du Yun & Jack Quartet: “A Cockroach’s Tarantella” (2020)
Dua Saleh
Doudou Ndive Rose (“on repeat”)

Recalling the year that ‘brainwashed’ became part of our political debate

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:07:24 +0000

Even as Americans are experiencing something different in this election year, there remains strong support among voters for confident, knowledgeable presidents who exude clearheaded leadership as our nation’s president.

It reminded me of a story involving a good presidential candidate who spoke the truth, got into trouble for it and self-destructed long before the election.

I was a student at Hamline University in the late ’60s, serving as chair of the popular Hamline Republican Club (we outnumbered the College Democrats manyfold). One of things we did was help candidates, including the surprise election of South St. Paul attorney Harold LeVander as governor in 1966 and a young Arne Carlson’s 1967 campaign for Minneapolis mayor.

We began to contemplate engagement in some manner in the 1968 presidential campaign.

Convening Hamline students liked Rockefeller

Of course, students did not automatically act as a block and we shared differing opinions; an all-campus, nonpartisan political convention of more than 1,000 Hamline students in 1968 did choose New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller as its favorite over Minnesota’s own Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

Monitoring campaigns was mostly through newspapers and nighty network news programs in those days. It was long before students had access to the more extensive news and social media outlets of recent years.

Chuck Slocum

I began following the exploratory presidential campaign of George Wilcken Romney, whose son, Mitt, was to become the 2012 Republican presidential candidate himself and is now a U.S. senator from Utah. (To continue the family political legacy, Ronna Romney McDaniel of Michigan, George’s granddaughter, is the current chair of the Republican National Committee.)

President Lyndon Johnson, who took office in 1963 upon the death of John Kennedy, had ramped up the war in Vietnam as his major foreign policy accomplishment. Concerning Vietnam, by 1967 things were uneasy on campuses throughout the country, including Hamline. Minnesota’s other U.S. senator, Gene McCarthy, decided to bring the issue of ending the Vietnam conflict — it was never an official war — into the 1968 campaign.

I liked the fact that the elder Romney was governor of Michigan (1963-69) and had substantial public support throughout the country; we invited him to speak on campus, but were not successful. A devout Mormon and former CEO of American Motors, Romney had popularized the Rambler and described the “big three” automakers as producing “gas-guzzling dinosaurs.”

Romney’s change of opinion on Vietnam

Romney decided to go directly to Vietnam himself and examine the situation. Upon his return, he had originally said he was confident that the military was doing the right things and that U.S. success was a foregone conclusion. Not long thereafter and after careful study, Romney began to share his doubts about Vietnam, calling it “a tragic mistake.”

CBS’ Roger Mudd quizzed Romney on the about-face in 1967. Romney said he had been “brainwashed” by government officials into thinking earlier that Johnson’s policies might work. Almost immediately, Romney’s character, loyalty, and intelligence were called into question by his opponents and the news media. Republican governors, long considered political allies, were quoted as saying Romney was “naïve.” It was not so much that people doubted that Romney had been lobbied vigorously when in Vietnam but that he had been unable to resist the effects of having his brain washed.

The Detroit News editorially argued that the state’s governor “was either incapable of maintaining a stand on so vital an issue” or, less charitably, “that he trims his Vietnam positions to accommodate prevailing political winds.”

Field left wide open for Nixon

Romney dropped out of the race on the eve of the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire Primary, leaving the Republican field wide open for Vice President Richard Nixon, the eventual winner.

Costly political gaffes have plagued candidates since the beginning of America’s unique two-party system.

During my more active days of partisan politics, there were several examples following Romney’s “brainwashed” 1968 situation: Edmund Muskie (“for crying out loud”) and George McGovern (“1,000% behind Eagleton”) in 1972, Gerald Ford (no Soviet domination of Easter Europe) in 1976, Jimmy Carter (Playboy “lust in my heart” quote) in 1976, Ronald Reagan (“the evil empire”) in 1984, Gary Hart (“catch me if you can”) in 1984.

But few have seen a more unusual presidential campaign than our current Donald Trump/Joe Biden contest, to be sure. It is not just the language but the issues — BLM, COVID-19 — that are driving the 2020 rhetoric.

Chuck Slocum, founder and president of The Williston Group, can be reached at Chuck@WillistonGroup.Com He recommends a book, “Observing Our Politicians Stumble,” written by Richfield native Stephen Frantzich, a political scientist who has spent his career at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

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For the mayor of Bemidji, Trump visit is ‘monumental’ — but complicated

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:04:55 +0000

Bemidji Mayor Rita Albrecht learned about the president’s historic visit to her city from a report in the Star Tribune.

Though Donald Trump announced plans last week to hold an outdoor rally at a Bemidji airport hangar — which Albrecht said will be the first-ever presidential stop in the city — the mayor said the airport’s manager had to ask the private aircraft company hosting the president to actually confirm the Friday visit. That way Bemidji could plan for an event that may draw thousands of people to the city of 15,000 during a pandemic.

“It’s been somewhat of a moving target for the city to get a handle on what’s going to actually happen and what our role is,” Albrecht said.

It’s been a complicated week for Albrecht, who currently sits at the heart of Greater Minnesota’s political crossroads.

The mayor is scrambling to facilitate the president’s campaign stop, a highly anticipated event in a timber-rich region that was once considered a DFL stronghold but has voted mostly for Republicans since Trump’s 2016 run. At the same time, she’s running as a Democrat for a seat in the Minnesota Senate in a closely-watched race against Republican state Sen. Justin Eichorn. Eichorn pried the district away from the long-serving DFLer Tom Saxhaug in 2016 by just 553 votes.

State Sen. Justin Eichorn

Eichorn said on Facebook he looked forward to welcoming the president to “Trump Country Bemidji, MN.”

“He’s not a normal politician,” Eichorn said in a video released Thursday. “He’s helped our mining jobs, he’s helped our forestry industry. Union people are back to work here because of President Trump.”

Jennifer Carnahan, chairwoman of the state GOP, said last week of Trump’s visit: “What Joe Biden took for granted, President Trump is making a priority.”

In an interview Wednesday from a campaign stop in Grand Rapids, Albrecht said she’s tried to separate her run for office from her nonpartisan job as mayor. One issue she’s had to attend to this week has been to help coordinate a police response with the Secret Service. While the feds are in charge of security at the private event, Bemidji has to handle everything else.

REUTERS/Leah Millis

President Donald Trump

(Former Vice President Joe Biden publicly announced the location of his Friday visit to Minnesota — he plans to tour a union training center in Hermantown — with two days notice Wednesday.)

Albrecht said Bemidji has only 34 cops, forcing her police chief to seek help from other law enforcement agencies in Minnesota. While Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have visited Duluth, Minneapolis and Mankato, Bemidji will be by far the smallest place the president has stopped in Minnesota this year.

Pro-Trump groups and anti-Trump protesters are expected in town, though Albrecht said they have no guess on how many people might arrive for the event. A certain amount of Trump supporters will get transported by shuttle to the hangar, Albrecht said, but anyone can apply for a ticket. And it’s unclear how many will be allowed in to see the president.

MinnPost photo by Walker Orenstein

Mayor Rita Albrecht

“I don’t know what that number is,” Albrecht said. “We recommend that they follow the [COVID-19] guidance that is in place right now. So we’ll see how that goes.”

(The state has reported just 362 cases in Bemidji’s Beltrami County, though that is the highest in the area outside of Clay County, which is home to Moorhead, and St. Louis County, which includes Duluth.)

Another task for the city was contacting local businesses. The airport is in a commercial district and nearby businesses that may have views of Air Force One will likely draw visitors. “We notified them that you’re probably going to have people in your parking lots,” she said with a laugh.

Will it be hard to convince voters to pick the DFL after Trump comes to town?

“I think when you have an event like this that is monumental for your community and people are excited about seeing Air Force One, whether they’re supporters or not, it demands that you wear that mayor’s hat and are going to welcome the president to your community,” Albrecht said. “On the other hand, on Friday I’m not going to go to the event. I plan to be phone-banking and contacting voters to make sure they know about the campaign and about me.”

Chiefs-Chargers Preview: Chargers Look To Contain Chiefs In Home Opener

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 14:02:07 +0000

(CBS Los Angeles) — The Kansas City Chiefs seemed to continue the 2019 season in Week 1 to 2020. The defending Super Bowl Champions, led by Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, handled a strong Houston Texans team en route to a 34-20 win at home. It was their 10th straight win dating back to the second half of last season.

The Texans jumped out to a 7-0 lead on the notoriously slow-starting Chiefs. But Kansas City soon showed the benefit of continuity in this strange season. With the same coaching and system and similar player personnel in place, finally got going late in the first quarter with beginning of its first scoring drive. They would go on to score 31 unanswered points. By the time Houston scored again in the fourth quarter, the game was already well out of reach.

Mahomes finished off the evening going an efficient 24-32 for 211 yards and three touchdowns. Sammy Watkins hauled in one of them; Travis Kelce added another. Rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire, a new addition who seems to have improved the running game, piled up 138 yards on his 25 attempts and added a touchdown of his own. The offense hummed right along, as if a preseason was completely unnecessary.

Stream your local NFL on CBS game live with CBS All Access.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs defense limited Deshaun Watson and the Texans high-powered offense for much of the game. While Watson ultimately threw for a respectable 253 yards, much of that came after the game was essentially over. The Kansas City defense seemed a little vulnerable against the run. Running back David Johnson, hoping to jump start his career in Houston, looked sharp. He ran for 77 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries and added three catches for 32 yards.

Kansas City will now turn their attention to Los Angeles, where they’ll face a Chargers team this Sunday that doesn’t present quite the offensive punch of their previous opponent. The Chargers slipped by the Cincinnati Bengals, 16-13, in their opener. It’s hard to put much stock in the win, however. The Bengals won two games last season and kept rookie quarterback Joe Burrow on a tight leash, and the Chargers still needed to come back in the fourth quarter.

There were some positives, however. The running game was productive, with Austin Ekeler picking up 83 yards on 19 carries, and Joshua Kelley adding 60 more on his 12 carries. The defense also turned in a strong performance against the 2019 Heisman Trophy winner, sacking him three times, hitting him four times and forcing an interception on a scramble.

Tyrod Taylor, who took over for the departed Philip Rivers, was his usual pedestrian self, avoiding mistakes but also missing out on big plays. The Chargers quarterback threw for just 208 yards on 16-30 passing.

That sort of performance from Taylor won’t be enough for the Chargers to keep pace with Mahomes and the Chiefs. They’ll need the running game and defense to defense to step up as well. The Texans showed in Week 1 that the Chiefs run defense is still susceptible. The Chargers D showed last season that they can play the Chiefs tough. In both their matchups last season combined, Mahomes completed just 35 of 57 passes for 356 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. If the Chargers offense can control the clock and limit Mahomes’ opportunities, and Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram can contain him somewhat with the pass rush when he is on the field, the Chargers might just have a chance. Not a big chance, but a chance.

The Chiefs are currently favored by 8.5 points, and they’ve enjoyed a few extra days of rest since their opener last Thursday. But the Chargers will be playing their first game in the new SoFi Stadium, and they played the Chiefs tough in their last two meetings.

Still, “how can you go against the Chiefs, asks CBS Denver sports anchor Michael Spencer. “Their offense seemed to pick up right where it left off after the Super Bowl. And I think they maybe got even better with the addition of Clyde Edwards-Helaire. The Chiefs are every bit as dominant as they were last year at least they were in Week 1.”

The Chiefs play the Chargers Sunday, September 20 @ 4:25 pm ET on CBS.

Zone Coverage: Big matchups and key stats for the Vikings-Colts game

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 13:53:21 +0000

Sunday's Week 2 matchup kicks off at noon.

This story first appeared at Zone Coverage and was re-shared through a collaboration with Bring Me The News.

Fans of both the Minnesota Vikings and Indianapolis Colts have been reaching for the Listerine all week, feverishly attempting to rid their mouths of the bad taste left behind by disappointments from their squads in Week 1. It won’t work. The only prescription for freshening up the collective pieholes of any 0-1 fanbase is a win in Week 2. Or more cowbell. But mostly a win in Week 2.

Devotees of one of these teams will be pretty down by dinnertime on Sunday; because if you think 0-1 is bad, 0-2 is twice as bad. The math checks out.

Let’s keep this positive for now, though. Focus on the fact that five of the 12 teams that made the NFL playoffs last season started their campaigns 1-1. The other seven, as you might have guessed, started 2-0. Your Vikings could easily be 1-1 by Sunday afternoon. The Colts are only favored by a field goal and one would have to think – or more accurately, hope – the Vikings got their annual stink bomb game out of the way in Week 1. No place to go but up, right?

Hey, I’m trying here.

So, as you gradually get yourself worked into a lather for Week 2, here are some things you should be looking for once the Vikings-Colts game gets underway.

THE BIG MATCHUPS

The marquee matchup in this one will undoubtedly be Adam Thielen vs. Xavier Rhodes. The TV cameras will be following Rhodes pregame as he chums around with his old pals in Purple, but once things kick off, Thielen should have the upper hand when the two of them tangle one-on-one. Indy would be wise to provide Rhodes help in coverage, and that will probably be the case. Or else, as Vikings fans witnessed the past two seasons all-too-frequently, the Rhodes won’t be closed. Kirk Cousins will happily exploit any lack of double-coverage schemes thrown at Thielen. ICYMI, Sam Ekstrom put together an in-depth look at Thielen vs. Rhodes.

Beyond that, the most meaningful matchup – the one that has the potential to go so poorly for the Vikings that it completely swings the game in the Colts’ favor — is the Vikings’ beleaguered defensive line against Indy’s offensive line.

You don’t need a Zimmer-level of football defense IQ to recognize that the Vikes’ defensive line play against the Packers – most notably the absence of anything resembling a consistent pass rush – was sub-optimal. And that’s being generous. To the surprise of precisely nobody, it seems they really do miss Danielle Hunter. Unfortunately, this probably won’t be the week that Yannick Ngakoue or anyone else in the rotation gets it going. Or if they do, it will require a Herculean effort because if you thought the Packers’ offensive line was good, wait until you get a load of the Colts’ big fellas.

You don’t need a John Tuvey-level of offensive line IQ to realize that Indy’s line might be the best in the NFL. Indeed, the savvy analysts at Pro Football Focus had them ranked No. 1 heading into the season.

Will Zimmer and Dom Capers dig deep into the playbook and dial-up some seldom-before-seen exotic blitzes to aid in the quest to pressure the notoriously immobile Philip Rivers? And what can they do to prevent the Colts from running it down their throats at will behind their road-grader line, controlling the clock as Green Bay did in Week 1 so effectively?

If Zimmer doesn’t draw up a clever way to combat this mismatch and/or if the players fail to execute said plan, it could turn into another endless day at the office for the defense.

COLTS PLAYERS TO WATCH

The Colts’ backfield committee became a little less crowded in Week 1 when Marlon Mack tore his Achilles tendon. From here on out, head coach Frank Reich will turn to the duo of Nyheim Hines – who scored twice against the Jaguars last week – and a player many in these parts are pretty familiar with, rookie Jonathan Taylor.

Golden Gophers fans surely remember Taylor from his time spent shredding FBS defenses for the Wisconsin Badgers. Following his record-setting career with the Badgers, Taylor was selected 41st overall by the Colts in this year’s NFL Draft. And now he’s been crowned their starter behind that bruising offensive line.

However, it’s not just the Colts’ running game Vikings fans should be wary of. Both Hines and Taylor are adroit at catching passes out of the backfield – a skill set that aligns perfectly with that of Rivers, who throws screen passes as effectively as he creates offspring.

[Narrator: At last count, Rivers had nine children – two boys and seven girls.]

Hines and Taylor caught 14 of 14 targets in Week 1 against the Jaguars, making up 112 of the Colts’ 363 passing yards. And before he was injured, Mack reeled in all three of his targets for another 30 yards. Thus, while we might see T.Y. Hilton or Parris Campbell occasionally torching and stacking the Vikings’ inexperienced cornerbacks this week, we will absolutely see Rivers dumping off quick passes to his backs. This predicament will further complicate things for a Vikings team seeking to pressure the pocket. Selling out to do so could leave them susceptible to chunk gains on screen passes.

KEY STATS

The lack of a pass rush in Week 1 contributed mightily to the Vikings’ failure to prevent third-down conversions. The resulting lopsided time of possession drew the most groans, but the closely related metric of third-down efficiency was just as concerning.

It’s not like this is a new problem for the Vikings. Third-down defense became a real issue for them last season, as I pointed out in this space back in April. The Vikings used to be pretty darn good on third downs, but that hasn’t been the case since 2018.

The Vikings are now 6-7 since the start of the 2017 season when losing the third-down efficiency battle. By contrast, they have gone 35-12-1 in that same timeframe when winning on third downs. That’s a pretty telling stat to keep an eye on going forward.

Now it’s time for good news, bad news.

First, the bad news: Last season, there were nine teams that started the season 0-2, and of those nine teams, none of them made the playoffs. Their average final record was 5-11. Moreover, according to Pro Football Reference, 247 teams have started the season 0-2 since 1990. Of those 247 teams, only 30 made it to the playoffs. That’s 12.1 percent.

The good news is that four of those 30 teams that claimed postseason berths even after starting 0-2 went on to play in the Super Bowl. And three of those four teams won the dang thing: the 2007 New York Giants, 2001 New England Patriots and 1993 Dallas Cowboys were all sporting rings when all was said and done.

So, if things go sideways on Sunday for the Vikes, they statistically still have a glimmer of hope.

Meltdown in Chicago puts Twins on collision course with Yankees

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 13:52:00 +0000

This Major League Baseball season features just 60 games, played without fans, with rules seemingly made up on the fly (seven-inning doubleheaders? Sure!) and playoff expansion that includes more than half the teams making it into the postseason. It is, to be sure, a season like no other. But as the regular season heads toward the finish line in a little more than a week, it is nice to know that in these unprecedent times there are still signs of normalcy to which we can hope to cling. Namely: If the season ended today, a sentiment that is only 8 games away from being true for the Twins, their first-round playoff opponent would be none other than the Yankees. It's amazing how this reality calcified around these two teams so quickly after being far off the radar. As recently as a week ago, New York was sputtering badly enough to put a berth in this expanded postseason in jeopardy. But the Yankees have since won eight straight (outscoring opponents 71-20 in the process) — putting them at 29-21, enough for ESPN's standings to list them at a 100% chance to make the playoffs. As recently as a few days ago, the Twins were flying high after a sweep of Cleveland. The entered a four-game series with the White Sox just a game back of the AL Central lead. But three losses in those four games has left Minnesota three back with eight to play, and Chicago has the tiebreaker as well. At 31-21, though, the Twins are also 100% locks to make the playoffs per ESPN, even if they haven't officially clinched a berth. The Twins are wedged into second place in the division, three games behind Chicago and three ahead of Cleveland. The Yankees are in a similar spot in the AL East – 3.5 behind Tampa Bay, 2.5 ahead of Toronto. As it stands now, the Twins would be the No. 4 seed as the second place team with the best record. The Yankees would be No. 5, as the second-place team with the second-best record. Houston, the second-place team in the AL West, is just 25-25 and unlikely to catch either of them. It's far from certain that things will finish this way, but it would take some rather significant movement over the final handful of games to dislodge the Twins and Yankees from the 4/5 seeds – and a first-round playoff meeting — based on their current position. Perhaps the biggest drama is whether the Yankees will overtake the Twins record-wise and win the right to host that best-of-three opening series in front of their own cardboard cutouts instead of the ones at Target Field (before one lucky team heads to the California bubble). We all know the postseason history between the teams, but just to recap: 2019: Yankees sweep 2017: Yankees single game wild card win 2010: Yankees sweep 2009: Yankees sweep 2004: Yankees won final three games in a 3-1 series win 2003: Yankees won final three games in a 3-1 series win That's Yankees 16, Twins 2 – including 13 consecutive postseason victories over the Twins. Maybe it has to be this way. Maybe this odd season can't have any other conclusion. Maybe these revamped Twins can channel the passionate energy of Sergio Romo and Josh Donaldson – the latter getting ejected Thursday in an amusing, awesome but also inarguably damaging home plate display after a go-ahead home run – to finally take down the Bronx Bombers. Or perhaps it will just be another frustrating chapter for the Twins. Or maybe one of these teams will slump or surge and this whole thought exercise will be for nothing. It would be a shame, though. If the Yankees fall to the Twins, and nobody is around to see it, would it still make a sound? I have to imagine it would be loud and clear in living rooms all across Minnesota.

What was the most destructive tornado in Minnesota history?

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 13:45:44 +0000

The state has seen dozens of terrifying twisters over the years.

Twin Daily: Kenta Maeda is everything the Twins needed

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 13:40:57 +0000

The ace the Twins have been searching for.

This story first appeared at Twins Daily and was re-shared through a collaboration with Bring Me The News.

The ace: It is a mythological creature described in ancient texts – a supernatural being, impervious to the most skilled batsmen and impregnable in the biggest moments. Rarely found in nature, the ace is fancied by every starry-eyed baseball fan near and far, revered as the ultimate key to championship glory.

In reality, aces are ephemeral and unpredictable. For now, the Twins have found theirs, and that's a victory worth savoring.

Madison Bumgarner used to be an ace. In fact, he is the exact type of specimen that fuels the term's modern mythology. His World Series performances are nothing short of legendary. They loom large in the minds of fans, and even front offices. The echoes of Bumgarner's long-removed ethos were enough to draw free-agent interest from the Twins and many other teams last winter, but the left-hander was steadfast in his desire to go to Arizona, so he did. (At an ostensible bargain, no less.)

Thus far with the D-backs, he's gone 0-4 with a 8.52 ERA in seven starts, already besieged by back issues. Imagine if the Twins had simply signed him for $100 million and called it a day.

Thankfully, they "missed" on Bumgarner and pivoted to Plan C, or D, or whatever it may have been. Any way you slice it, trading for Kenta Maeda has worked out better than any aspirational fan could have dreamed.

Frequently prodded throughout the offseason by fans and media for procrastinating on their promised addition of "impact pitching," the front office ultimately landed one of the best pitchers in baseball, and a proven World Series performer to boot.

Maeda's mastery

A first impression is only that, but the start to Maeda's career with the Twins won't soon be forgotten.

Within his first nine starts as a Twin, the right-hander has:

Taken a no-hitter into the ninth inning
Set a franchise record with eight consecutive strikeouts
Led the team to a 7-2 record while on the mound, posting a 2.43 ERA and an MLB-leading 0.74 WHIP
Gone 4-0 with a 1.17 ERA against the Indians and White Sox
Posted the eighth-highest bWAR (1.6) and ninth-highest fWAR (1.3) of any pitcher in baseball
Posted the fourth-highest whiff rate of any pitcher in baseball (15.7%), trailing only Jacob deGrom, Lucas Giolito and Shane Bieber

He pounds the zone with oft-untouchable stuff, and he rises to the occasion. That showed through again last Friday when Maeda took the mound and fired seven shutout innings against Cleveland, another dominant effort against a top contender in the division. In big moments, Maeda steps up. It's the pedigree of a guy who owns a 3.31 ERA in 32 ⅔ postseason innings.

Classy Kenta

The delightful impact of Maeda's arrival doesn't end with his performance on the field. He's also proving to be a person worth cheering for. How can you not love the earnest goodness of Maeda's story, shared in a YouTube video and translated on the Minnesota Sports Fan blog, about the fallout from his near-no-hitter-turned-near-loss after Taylor Rogers came in and promptly blew the save?

As Kenta explains, Rogers felt bad enough about costing his new teammate a well-earned W (and even tagging Maeda with an earned run) that he left an apology letter at the starter's locker.

"I told him not to worry about it," Maeda explains. "It’s not like my pitching line gets erased or anything and we won the game anyway. But Rogers just felt so bad that he initially offered to buy me some alcohol. Some of my translators and trainers told him that I don’t drink, though. So some of my staff just casually said maybe if we go out to drink you can pay the bill or something."

Maeda continues: "But he insisted that it has to be something that benefits Kenta directly. So one of my trainers told him about this really high-quality Japanese rice from a store I like, and he purchased that for me as a gift. So along with this letter, he presented me with this ticket to trade-in for the rice. I can’t read the letter myself so I had it translated. Basically, it says 'I am so sorry for ruining your phenomenal pitching performance yesterday.' This really made me happy. I don’t think there are that many pitchers out there who care this much to go out of there way to do this."

It's a great (but unsurprising) story about Rogers, who is a respected and beloved leader in the clubhouse. This connective moment between an organizational stalwart and the rotation's newly acquired phenom really warms my heart, transcending language barriers and cultural divides.

It serves to reinforce what we're seeing on the field. He might be a big-market fish in a land of 10,000 small ponds, but Maeda is fitting right in, and he's just what this team needed.

On Thursday afternoon in Chicago, he'll face the White Sox with the division more or less on the line. If the Twins can win behind him and split the series, they'll be one game behind in the Central with 10 days to go, and Minnesota will hold the tiebreaker.

It'll be the biggest spot of Maeda's Twins career. At least up until he starts Game 1 of the playoffs in a couple weeks. He's under contract for three more seasons, so I'm sure there will be plenty more to come.

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US bans WeChat, TikTok citing privacy, national security

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 13:39:18 +0000

The U.S. will ban the downloads of the Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat on Sunday, with a total ban on the use of the latter, citing national security and data privacy concerns.